


crack me open (i won’t mind)

by BadWolfGirl3



Series: ngymobblepot rewrites (nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you don’t belong) [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Again, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode: s05e11 They Did What?, First Kiss, I apparently only write about nygmobblepot hugs, I rewrote another scene oh no, Love, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Nygmobblepot, Pining, The OTHER HUG, Will I ever have a normal sleep schedule?, fudge I love this scene, it was worth it for this, it’s 4 am and I’m dying but this had to be done, oswald pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolfGirl3/pseuds/BadWolfGirl3
Summary: There’s the unmistakable flick of a knife being opened, so quiet Oswald wouldn’t have noticed if the room wasn’t as silent as the grave. And he wants to laugh, because even though they’re different men than the ones from all those years ago, this is the one thing Oswald can still count on.He’s ready now, for whatever comes. Ed could stab him in the back and he knows he’d reciprocate, but it would be okay. If he ended up dying in the arms of Edward Nygma by his hand, it would be okay.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Series: ngymobblepot rewrites (nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you don’t belong) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826824
Comments: 8
Kudos: 123





	crack me open (i won’t mind)

**Author's Note:**

> So. I finished Gotham tonight. I’m very surprised I didn’t wake the whole house up (it’s 4 am) with my excited screaming. Holy hell, guys, that was such a trip. I was at season 3 literally a week ago, published my first Gotham fic a week ago, and now I’m finished. So now I write, because now I’ve got a whole new arsenal of Ed/Ozzie scenes to spin and make my own and I am very, very excited. So this is my own take on the hug scene from s5 e11, which I think is absolutely beautiful. Just a gorgeous scene, and so I decided to go ahead and expand upon it (cough cough change it so that they end up together cough cough). Just a little. Apparently I can only write Oswald’s POV right now, I’ll work on that, but I tried a slightly different feel for this one. Hope you enjoy!

Fate always seems to find a way to bring them back to each other.

Edward said something similar, so, so long ago, in a stuffy little studio apartment, all curly hair and bright brown eyes, a smile pulling at his lips, just bordering on too happy, too intent, but still beautiful. Oswald cherishes every part of Ed (Edward, The Riddler, the man he was, the man he’s become, and the man he’s yet to be), but there will always be a soft spot in his heart for the scientist eager for a mentor, holding a glass of water with a straw, perched on a bed holding a known criminal and excited about it.

_“Do you believe in fate?”_

Oswald hadn’t. Now he did.

Because after all this time, after all the pain, and anger, and betrayal and heartbreak and trying to kill each other, they’re here, together. They're so different now; Edward in a beautiful green suit and finally his own man, free, Oswald short of an eye and a little wiser, just a little, but everything still feels the same anyway. He’s got a knife at his side, and he’s ready to use it should he have to, but even that just feels _right._

He’s still in love with Ed. Always has been, always will be. To kill him would be to put a knife in his own back, to cut out his own heart and watch it die, but after everything they’ve been through, he’s not quite willing to put his guard down. Not anymore.

“Let’s make a pact. Here and now; we will take _what_ we want from _who_ we want. And we will suffer _no fools_.” Every single word that passes his lips is the truth. Every single word a silent plea.

Ed looks at him from the window, face passive. Oswald thinks he sees some intrigue, a little bit of the gears turning in his head, but it’s so hard to read the other man now. There are days he thinks he can read Ed like a book and other days he thinks he’ll never understand him (Oswald is starting to realize that’s okay- that’s how they work).

“Together?” Edward extends a hand towards him. “Shall we shake on that?”

It seems so very cold, so indicative of where they are with each other and how he feels and Oswald hates it. He’s far from the days where his utter _need_ for Ed consumes his every waking minute (now he just lets it simmer beautifully in the background, let’s it ebb and flow instead of crash and burn and destroy), but in this moment he wants to take the taller man by the shoulders and scream at him.

He’s learned control, though- just a modicum of it. “Please. We’re brothers.” Oswald feels the bile rise up in his throat and struggles to clamp it down. He tells himself he’ll take whatever Ed is willing to give, will be accepting of his choices (he doesn’t know if he’s lying to himself or not). “A hug.”

The words feel like a test as they pass his lips. _Hug me, show me I was wrong, you were wrong, that nothing’s changed and everything’s changed, that we can be us again._ He might be hedging his bets here, and the smug smile threatening to erupt fully on his face proves that, but he’ll take all the wins he can get.

He hasn’t touched Ed in so, so long.

Ed tilts his head just a little, enough you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t Oswald Cobblepot, who’s made it a point to know Edward inside and out. It doesn’t mean rejection, though. “A hug it is.”

There’s the unmistakable _flick_ of a knife being opened, so quiet Oswald wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t so on edge, if the room wasn’t as silent as the grave. And he wants to _laugh_ , laugh until his sides hurt and his eyes are watering, because even though they’re different men than the ones from all those years ago, different men than the ones from even yesterday, this is the one thing Oswald can still count on. They’re still _the same._

If it’s the last time he ever feels Ed’s embrace, whether the Riddler stabs the Penguin or the Penguin stabs the Riddler, Oswald will be okay with it. It will be a good way to die.

They step into the hug, arms tightening around shoulders. Oswald raises his blade to the middle of Ed’s back, lightly touching it to the green fabric. He’ll do it, even if it destroys him. He’ll do what he has to do, that hasn’t changed and won’t change even if he loves the Riddler more than anything, and he knows by the mirrored position of the other man’s arm that Edward is willing to do the same.

Friends will always stab you in the back. Maybe after all these years they could finally be different.

They’re tense for a moment. Oswald feels tears rising in his eyes, overwhelmed with all the damned _feelings_ for Ed that come rushing back in when they touch and the realization of his position. What he could lose.

He’s ready now, for whatever comes. Ed could stab him in the back and he knows he’d reciprocate, but it would be okay. If he ended up dying in the arms of Edward Nygma by his hand, it would be okay.

Oswald holds his breath.

Ed’s arm shakes, just a little.

The world around them doesn’t exist. Gotham doesn’t exist. He can feel Ed’s heart racing against his chest, ready to make it all stop and-

 _Nothing_.

Maybe fate has different plans.

He lets out a desperate, hopeful gasp, and Ed tightens his arm around Oswald’s shoulders. They’re going to be okay.

They step away from each other, knives going back into their pockets, tucked safely away. They don’t go far, close enough Oswald can still feel Ed’s body heat, close enough all he wants to do is reel him back in and never let go.

He told himself he’d take whatever Ed was willing to give. “Life begins anew.” It's all he can think to say, all he can choke out past a throat closed with emotion. _They're going to be okay._ If everything else from here on out is different, Oswald will take that as a consolation prize. 

The look Edward gives him when he says it tears down all the walls he thought he’d built up around his heart, all the mental barbed wire and machine guns. Oswald feels bare before the other man. He's cracked open, ribs and beating heart on full display, like Ed used the knife in his pocket and flayed him and left him bleeding.

It is the best he’s felt in a long, long time.

And Ed doesn’t look away, doesn’t move away, doesn’t say anything like Oswald expects him to. This should be it; they made a pact, they had a hug, the Riddler can go back to himself and the Penguin can take this moment and burn it into his brain, memorize every detail so he can take it out for the lonely nights when his heart and his bed are too cold.

But it doesn’t end there; Ed takes a step forward, close enough now that their chests brush. Oswald thinks his legs might buckle, the one good one he has giving out and shattering just like the other one.

“Oswald…” His name is a whisper, nothing more than hot breath brushing across his face. He feels like his heart could give out any second now, just stop completely after everything that’s happened. It’s been a long day, he’d gotten nearly blown up and his eye is possibly permanently damaged, and Edward Nygma is staring at his lips.

_Edward Nygma is staring at Oswald Cobblepot’s lips._

_Fuck._

When their mouths do meet, it’s so much softer and heart shattering and _tender_ than Oswald ever could have imagined. In most of his fantasies their first kiss would be rough, angry, ruthless. There would be biting, blood drawn, nails breaking skin as they dragged down backs. One of them would probably kill the other after it was all done. This is not that.

This is years of heartbreak and betrayal falling away to something new. Something hopeful. Something _beautiful_.

Oswald’s hands come up to bury themselves in Ed’s hair, grasping tightly at the silky strands. One of the taller man’s arms wraps around his waist, pulling him closer, while his other hand comes to frame his face. The angle is slightly awkward- Ed is too damn _tall_ \- and the shorter man can feel his bad leg cramp up as he strains to give as much as he gets, but he wouldn’t change a thing. The kiss deepens but doesn’t get less gentle, less intense. Edward sucks Oswald’s lower lip into his mouth, biting down gently. Oswald wants to stay in this moment forever.

Fate has always been leading them to this moment, he thinks. Everything before this has all been worth it, as long as he ends up in Ed’s arms.

They pull away too soon, needing air, but the Riddler doesn’t let him go so easily (Oswald is okay with that). Both his arms anchor around his waist, keeping their chests flush. With his greatest enemy smiling down at him and a new hope rising and filling his chest like a balloon, the Penguin feels like he’s finally where he belongs.

“Shall we get to work?”

**Author's Note:**

> And there you go! I love this scene so much- the parallels with Martin’s drawing, and just the way Robin and Cory performed it, it’s absolutely gorgeous and I hope I did some justice to it. Expect more Nygmobblepot stuff from me, because I love these boys and I love this show, and I literally have a running document of Fic ideas- granted, they’re mostly just half remembered quotes from the show that I took down on my phone and then promptly forgot about because I had to continue watching, but they’re still ideas. I’m sorry for rambling, it’s 4 am and I’m hyped on finally finishing the show. Love you all, keep staying safe!


End file.
